National express cheap fares

witchno2

I will be travelling from Heathrow to Gloucester in July. The ticket costs £27, however, the ticket from London Victoria to Gloucester via Heathrow costs only £7. Would it be OK to book London Victoria to Gloucester, but board in Heathrow? Or could I get into trouble? I effectively will pay for a longer journey even though the ticket is cheaper...

The_ICT_Engineer

It will depend on the driver, And you may find that there are no seats left, as you will be deemed a no-show at VCS. and your seat therefore can be used by someone else, with the positionable that all the remaining seats are for people booked to get on at Heathrow.

Ruth_honey

I don't think the National Express from London to Gloucester stops at Heathrow anymore. It certainly hasn't the last few journeys I've taken on it. And no, they won't let you on at Heathrow if you're booked from Victoria. Might get away with it in the other direction, but not that way. It drives me crazy that it's cheaper to go further!
If the times work for you, it's quite cheap to get an advance train ticket from Paddington to Gloucester. I tend to do that, unless I need to get there at times the train fares are too high.

ETA-for a difference in £20 for coach fare, it's much cheaper to get the tube into Victoria and come back out again. A hassle-especially with luggage, I know, but cheaper by a long way.

witchno2

Ruth_honey wrote: »

I don't think the National Express from London to Gloucester stops at Heathrow anymore. It certainly hasn't the last few journeys I've taken on it. And no, they won't let you on at Heathrow if you're booked from Victoria. Might get away with it in the other direction, but not that way. It drives me crazy that it's cheaper to go further!
If the times work for you, it's quite cheap to get an advance train ticket from Paddington to Gloucester. I tend to do that, unless I need to get there at times the train fares are too high.

ETA-for a difference in £20 for coach fare, it's much cheaper to get the tube into Victoria and come back out again. A hassle-especially with luggage, I know, but cheaper by a long way.

Thank you, Ruth. Yes, if I was on my own, I would think about doing it that way but with a 2 year old I would like as little hassle and stress for him as possible. I have checked for train tickets, but the cheapest was over £50. I guess I will have to pay the full price... BTW I think every second London-Gloucester bus stops in Heathrow.

dzug1

witchno2 wrote: »

Thank you, Ruth. Yes, if I was on my own, I would think about doing it that way but with a 2 year old I would like as little hassle and stress for him as possible. I have checked for train tickets, but the cheapest was over £50. I guess I will have to pay the full price... BTW I think every second London-Gloucester bus stops in Heathrow.

You ought to be able to get the train for less than that - I would expect that it is either using the Heathrow Express or the Reading bus


Try looking for tickets from Heathrow Underground (ZHJ) or paying for the bus separately


And if it's July the cheap tickets are only on sale for part of the month anyway - you may need to wait a week or two for them to come on sale

Ruth_honey

witchno2 wrote: »

Thank you, Ruth. Yes, if I was on my own, I would think about doing it that way but with a 2 year old I would like as little hassle and stress for him as possible. I have checked for train tickets, but the cheapest was over £50. I guess I will have to pay the full price... BTW I think every second London-Gloucester bus stops in Heathrow.

Ah. Didn't realise you'd have a young un with you as well. If he's only 2, would he still be in a pushchair? (Sorry-don't have kids, so not much concept of this!)
There are lifts at Heathrow and at Earls court (if you get the tube from Heathrow into London, you'd likely change there) but not at Victoria, so you'd have to deal with steps there. But, I've found that almost every time I've been lugging suitcases up/down stairs there's been a lovely person who has offered to help with my bags. Yes, it's more hassle and time than getting a coach directly from the airport, but it's worth having some info if that's what you decide to do to save money.
Getting to Reading and picking up the train to Gloucester from there is another option, though.

Can I be nosy and ask where you're going? I miss holidays... Haven't been abroad since we got the cat.